Sancho and Elliott looking at loan limbo

Jadon Sancho and Harvey Elliott can be forgiven for wondering if they made the right decision to join Aston Villa.

A loan move was the chance for Sancho to reignite a stuttering career with his future at Manchester United over.

Sancho's contract at Old Trafford expires at the end of the season, signalling he is likely to have played his last game for United, but his time at Villa has so far failed to fire.

He has just 168 Premier League minutes this season, following his 22-minute cameo in the 2-1 win at Leeds United on Sunday, having started two Europa League games and once in the Carabao Cup.

Thursday's visit of Young Boys in the Europa League represents a chance for another start, but the 25-year-old's career is now drifting.

Elliott arrived on loan from Liverpool, with an obligation to buy for £35m, having been named player of the tournament as England Under-21s won Euro 2025.

He has not played in the Premier League for over two months and when he did make his only start - against Fulham in September - he was hauled off at half-time.

The midfielder has not been included in Villa's past four Premier League squads and 18-year-old academy prospect George Hemmings was on the bench at Leeds ahead of him.

The deal will, reportedly, be made permanent if Elliott makes 10 appearances so the question would be why he or the club would want to commit to a move which does not look like it is working.

Having played five times for Villa and twice for Liverpool this season, the only avenue elsewhere for Elliott would be to move to an overlapping league - which starts later - like the MLS, which would allow him to represent three clubs in one campaign.

He would have no option to play for another Premier League or European side this term.

But both loan deals - United sources say 80% of Sancho's wages will be covered by Villa, while also included are easily achievable bonuses that would take the total up to 100%. - are looking like expensive mistakes for everyone.